Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq Summary and Reviews

Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq
by Riverbend

Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq
List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $7.50
You Save: $7.45 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.86 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Riverbend
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-04-01
ISBN: 1558614893
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY
Product features:
  • ISBN13: 9781558614895
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Book Reviews of Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq

Book Review: A Valuable Window Into Iraq
Summary: 5 Stars

"When Bush 'brought the war to the terrorists,' he failed to mention he wouldn't be fighting it in some distant mountains or barren deserts: the frontline is our homes, and the 'collateral damage' is our friends and families."

Riverbend, a young Iraqi woman, writes jarring dispatches from her deteriorating city of Baghdad as it descends into the chaos following the 2003 invasion. Her blog, which is clearly aimed at American readers, provides a window into Iraqi life under occupation far beyond the sanitized reports filling our TV screens and newspapers. She describes daily battles we seldom hear about, such as the battle for sleep in the hellish summer heat when the electricity is cut off most of the time; the battle for an education when schools are raided and the country suffers marked 'brain drain' with the flight of many of its intellectuals; the inner battle for the courage to go out shopping after fundamentalist militias begin beating and abducting women. She tells of sleeping in her clothes every night, pockets stuffed with valuables and identification papers...just in case...and the aunt who orders Riverbend's brother to keep watch on the roof while she bathes, because she doesn't want to be caught naked should American troops suddenly burst into their home. Tragedy is always close by, with the abduction of a cousin, arrest of a neighbor, and violent death of another neighbor while visiting relatives.

Riverbend's moving personal narrative is complemented by biting, often witty political commentary and passages from various 'links' on Riverbend's blog. Her depiction of life as an Iraqi woman completely dismantles the claim that the war 'liberated' the country's women, who are now forced to cope with U.S.-backed Shiite fundamentalist militias such as Badir's Brigade, known for terrorizing women who refuse to wear the hijab. As a female, Riverbend is forced to give up a good job as a computer programmer, and watches with dread as the Coalition Provisional Authority installs extremists on the Iraq Governing Council, which she deems "the most elaborate puppet show Iraq has ever seen."

Though her blog paints an ominous picture of the situation in Iraq, Riverbend uplifts her many readers with the very humanness we are so rarely allowed to glimpse through the dehumanizing rhetoric of war. The ability of an ordinary (though in many ways extraordinary) young woman to reach audiences around the world is an inspiring testament to the democratic potential of the dawning Information Age.

Women Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Women Books
Lopsided: A Memoir ImageLopsided: A Memoir
by Meredith Norton
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2009-05-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $15.00
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia ImageEat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
by Elizabeth Gilbert
Penguin Audio; Published: 2006-02-16; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops: $39.95
Epilogue: A Memoir ImageEpilogue: A Memoir
by Anne Roiphe
Harper; Published: 2008-08-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.44
Price in other shops: $24.95
Summer at Tiffany LP ImageSummer at Tiffany LP
by Marjorie Hart
HarperLuxe; Published: 2007-04-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.44
Price in other shops: $15.99
Why Women Should Rule the World ImageWhy Women Should Rule the World
by Dee Dee Myers
Harper; Published: 2008-02-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.40
Price in other shops: $24.95
Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography ImageMother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography
by Kathryn Spink
Harpercollins; Published: 1997-10-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops: $23.00
Going Rogue LP: An American Life ImageGoing Rogue LP: An American Life
by Sarah Palin
HarperLuxe; Published: 2009-11-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.42
Price in other shops: $28.99
Model Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Ass ImageModel Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Ass
by Karen Duffy
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2001-11-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.25
Price in other shops: $13.00
Clear Springs: A Family Story ImageClear Springs: A Family Story
by Bobbie Ann Mason
Harper Perennial; Published: 2000-04-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.90
Price in other shops: $14.95
Truth & Beauty ImageTruth & Beauty
by Ann Patchett
HarperAudio; Published: 2004-05-11; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $3.33
Price in other shops: $25.95
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Beijing Jeep: A Case Study Of Western Business In China ImageBeijing Jeep: A Case Study Of Western Business In China
by Jim Mann
Westview Press; Published: 1997-03-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $50.77
Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories ImageMen in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories
by Ghassan Kanafani
Three Continents Pr; Published: 1998-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.75
Price in other shops: $12.95
Whatever Else Happened to the Egyptians?: From the Revolution to the Age of Globalization ImageWhatever Else Happened to the Egyptians?: From the Revolution to the Age of Globalization
by Galal Amin
The American University in Cairo Press; Published: 2004-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.39
Price in other shops: $19.95
Dissident Syria: Making Oppositional Arts Official ImageDissident Syria: Making Oppositional Arts Official
by miriam cooke
Duke University Press Books; Published: 2007-08-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops: $22.95
Contemporary Iraqi Fiction: An Anthology (Middle East Literature in Translation) ImageContemporary Iraqi Fiction: An Anthology (Middle East Literature in Translation)
Syracuse University Press; Published: 2008-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.18
Price in other shops: $22.95
Sweet Mandarin: The Courageous True Story of Three Generations of Chinese Women and Their Journey from East to West ImageSweet Mandarin: The Courageous True Story of Three Generations of Chinese Women and Their Journey from East to West
by Helen Tse
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2009-10-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.97
Price in other shops: $16.99
Baghdad Burning II: More Girl Blog from Iraq (Women Writing the Middle East) ImageBaghdad Burning II: More Girl Blog from Iraq (Women Writing the Middle East)
by Riverbend
The Feminist Press at CUNY; Published: 2006-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops: $14.95
Palestine ImagePalestine
by Joe Sacco, Edward Said
Fantagraphics Books; Published: 2002-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.56
Price in other shops: $24.95
Conquistadores de la Calle: Child Street Labor in Guatemala City ImageConquistadores de la Calle: Child Street Labor in Guatemala City
by Thomas A. Offit
University of Texas Press; Published: 2010-01-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.15
Price in other shops: $25.00
Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village ImageGuests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village
by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
Anchor; Published: 1995-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.94
Price in other shops: $16.00